I asked Anya Schiffrin, director of the technology, media and communications program at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, about the difference between conservative and liberal communication programs. Schiffrin responded via email:
It’s amazing how right-wing talking points dominate discourse in many parts of the world. They were able to mobilize voters by focusing on concerns about crime, immigration and inflation. In the past few years, we have heard the story of immigration crime in Santiago, Stockholm, Melbourne, and New York.
Over the decades, Schiffrin continued,
Republicans have done an excellent job of messaging each other through right-wing radio networks and tabloids and Fox television and now through social media. Many on the left are upset about this and wonder if they should build other media infrastructures
However, part of why Republicans are so successful is the message rather than the talk. Republicans keep their message very simple and focus on intellectual topics. Explaining the nuances of crime statistics and telling people not to worry about crime is not satisfying when people go to CVS every day and see all the toothpaste and aspirin under lock and key or feel threatened on the street or on the trains.
A key part of the conservative agenda, Schiffrin wrote, is what he calls “capturing the field”:
The tech titans want to avoid regulation and taxes, and many have a liberal bent, so it’s only natural that they cooperate with Donald Trump. AI platforms and companies rely on the United States to establish global control. Indeed, when Zuckerberg recently said he would dismantle fact-checking efforts, he also mentioned the need to bring back European law. The Trump and Zuckerberg-Musk alliance makes sense to everyone right now.
Although the main aspect of the conservative drive to establish a cultural agenda is to control the medium – websites, podcasts, messaging systems – another goal is to discredit and push back against liberal programs and claims.
On this point, Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of “America’s Cultural Revolution,” almost forced liberals to back down on many issues.
Rufo can claim credit (or blame) for the backsliding of business and academia with critical race theory; diversity, equity and inclusion (better known as DEI); and the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement in corporate investments.
Two days ago, Rufo bragged to X about the growing status of the right in the nation’s culture:
For the past four years, the Left has tried to cast us as young, rigid, extreme, and the worst. But the truth is that we are ordinary, reasonable, popular, and up-and-coming people. We will no longer allow Cluster B leftists to destroy our institutions. If that’s your thing, try therapy.
In a more subtle but no less important development, two Wall Street Journal reporters, Aaron Zitner and Meridith McGraw, explained in an article on Jan. 19 that “in sports, entertainment and advertising, the demonstration of environmental protection stifles the progressive stance.”
“Instead of taking a knee to call for social justice,” write Zitner and McGraw,
NFL players do the “Trump dance” in the end zone at football games. Many entertainers, including country singer Carrie Underwood and rapper Snoop Dogg, have agreed to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration, something that music stars have largely avoided for the past eight years.
A new generation of Trump-friendly comedians and health advocates have flooded YouTube and other social media, and an audio clip featuring Barron and Melania Trump has become one of the hottest online hits, featuring celebrities like Paris Hilton and brands, including Frontier Airlines. , using it in their TikTok and Instagram posts.
“Every time I walk around campus, I see a few MAGA hats. That’s really new,” said Carson Carpenter, 19, a senior at Arizona State University. Conservatism, he said, ‘is really intertwined with our pop culture. … It really shows that conservatism is cool now.”
On the other hand, Zitner and McGraw write,
Businesses are scaling back diversity efforts that gained urgency after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, which led to a focus on racial discrimination. Universities are adapting to the Supreme Court’s ban on considering race in admissions, and programs designed to help minority students are under legal attack, facing allegations of racial discrimination. In some Republican-led states, officials are feeling new power to push for Christian-themed curricula in the classroom.
Conservatives have long complained that free speech is being abused on social media. This month Meta Platforms announced the end of fact checks and restrictions on certain types of speech across Facebook and Instagram.
While the right has been and continues to attack, the left has been on the defensive.
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